Everything you'll need for the theory side of OCR A-Level Music- including all the set works that you can be tested on in the exam. Notes also include useful exam tips on technique and how to answer each style of question!
Gabrieli – What makes it typically a piece of Venetian Renaissance music?
Typical Renaissance instruments = cornett & sackbut, continuo not a prominent
feature
Gabrieli omitted time signature = editor added it afterwards
1) Textural point = mainly contrapuntal (Venetian style) = bar 6
2) Root and 1st inversion chords dominate (Venetian style) = eg bar 7
3) Rhythmic point = syncopation (Venetian style) = cornett @ bar 8.
4) Also effective approached by leap such as D @ bar 11
5) Harmonic point = various suspensions = dissonance = 7-6 suspension at bar 16
6) 4-3 suspension = more common = bar 20
7) Textural point = 8-part counterpoint = bars 26-31
8) Antiphony (Venetian style) = bars 37-40
9) Melodic point = frequently conjunct movement with relatively restricted range as
large leaps are rare. However, octave leap @ bar 41
Purcell – Dido’s state of mind?
1) Starts in Cm (befits text) = bars 1-4
2) Recitative passes through several keys (unsettled tonality), ending on 3) Phrygian
cadence in Gm = bar 4, beat 2
4) Moves to bottom of sop range as thoughts turn to death = bar 8
5) Expressive falling 5th ‘trouble’ = bars 12-13
6) Resolution of suspensions create impression of sighing to enforce melancholy
mood = bars 12-13
7) Occasional chromaticisms = create uncertainty = bar 19
8) Declamatory style of ‘remember me’ = bar 25
9) Expressive melisma ‘ah’ = bar 30
10) Climactic upwards leap to top G ‘remember me’ = bar 34
Goldsmith – What makes it effective as an accompaniment to a violent chase?
1) Characterised by driving rhythms: 3-4 to start, later 4-4, occasional 5-4 bars
2) Emphasis on first beat by timpani, reinforce sense of terror = bar 1
3) Dissonant harmony creates uncertainty eg viola’s A clashes with cello’s Bb = bar 1,
beat 2
4) Unusual instruments convey a sense of strangeness of the apes eg boo bams = bar
10
5) Changes in metre creates confusion = bar 10 (5-4), bar 44 (2-4)
6) Continuous semiquavers in piano increase rhythmic drive= bar 11
7) Frequent syncopation = bar 13
8) Cross-rhythms on congas increase rhythmic tension = bar 16
9) Disjunct and chromatic melodic lines = eg bar 38, moving by leap
,10) Complex rhythm = 7tuplet scales/3 crotchets/semiquavers & quaver percussion
= bar 55
Stravinsky – 20th C Neoclassicism
Sinfonia:
No continuo!
Stravinsky took original tonality and ‘spiced it up’ with frequent added note
dissonances = begins in G major, modulates to V early = bar 4
Long sustained notes against foreground music = bars 7-9
Exaggerates ornamentation to make music sound more 18th C in character:
exaggeration of stylistic effects very neoclassical = trills @ bars 7-9
Circle of 5ths = bars 7-9
Loosely imitative wind = bars 6-10
Differing time signatures = bars 10-12
Persistent syncopation = bars 17-18 (violin 2)
Rounded binary (evidence of 18th C origins) = A=b1-15, B=16-32, A1=33-end
Stravinsky leaves out bass line altogether = bars 29-30
Sustained chords in solo quintet, repeated chords in main orchestra = bars 37-39
Gavotta:
Only wind instruments
Binary form
First variation has unusual timbre of oboe accompanied by horn = bar 1
Retardations (upward resolving suspensions), C# retardation on oboe = bar 2
Trumpet & trombone accompany (strange instrumentation) = bar 11
Exaggeration of ornamentation = 20th C = turn in bar 20
‘Wrong note’ harmony – G & D major chords = bar 44, beat 1
Irregular groupings of shorter notes – groups of 5 bar 27, groups of 9 bar 31, groups
of 11 bar 73, groups of 12 bar 78
Extensive ‘non-baroque’ ornamentation = flute 1 @ bar 83
Vivo:
Solo trombone (not used in baroque)
No continuo: brings it further away from original
High double bass = bar 1
Glissandi on trombones, specific 20th C touch = bar 2
Score marked with articulations, staccato = bar 9
Moves away from original, 3 extra bars at start of second section = bars 22-24
Syncopation: heavy off-beat accents = bar 33
Heterophony between flutes and trumpets = bar 38
Unexpected cadences eg iii-I = final bar
, Cage – Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
- John Cage = 20th C
- 3 sonatas
- Written in 1949
- Pushed boundaries in music
- Wanted to show a variety in technique, mood & colour
- For prepared piano
- Was interested in creating flexibility on timbres
- There are 4 ways a prepared piano can affect sound -> quietens,
changes timbre, splits into 2 or 3 sounds, shortens duration
- Between every 4 sonatas is an interlude
- Uses a subtle range of dynamics
Melody:
Sonata I
- Melodic repetition (bar 1 is repeated 2 bars later)
- Short statements with specific shapes
- Limited range of pitches, sometimes suggested pentatonicism
- Melodic movement = often conjunct
Sonata II
- Arch melodies (bar 1 & bar 4)
- Conjunct movement
- Use of embellishment (grace notes & rhythmic development =
bars 15 & 16)
- Shapes are repeated
- Sequenced idea (bars 10-13)
Sonata III
- First RH melody is repeated (bars 2-5)
- Part A = repeated (a percussive reference point)
- Bar 13 = augmented from opening
- Sequence in bars 14-15
- Conjunct movement in scale at bar 18
- Inversion in bar 27
Structure:
Each sonata is given a number
Sonata I
- Binary form
- Form = concerned with proportions of duration
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